IGXOS 12

Chapter 12

Backseat Gaming? (4)

A lie? Why would the instructors lie?

Those thoughts briefly crossed their minds, but soon they dismissed them, thinking that perhaps this too was part of the training process.

Now that they knew it was a lie, there were definitely parts that didn’t quite add up.

‘Even if the maze’s mana circuit became unstable, it’s still just a place meant to confine goblins. There’s no way C-rank instructors wouldn’t be able to break through it.’

Even if it were true that the trio of instructors couldn’t break through, it made no sense that they couldn’t enter when Hwang Hana was there.

If they thought about it calmly, the answer was obvious. But since this was their first real combat situation after the tutorial, the team members couldn’t help but panic when they heard it was an emergency.

“Something’s wrong with the mana circuit?”
“But if they’re telling us to evacuate, maybe it’s not that serious?”
“It’d be bad if the instructors couldn’t help when things get dangerous…”
“Whew… This might be a little risky.”

Compared to when they first entered, the fear had clearly grown. An emergency alert had sounded—of course they’d panic.

Do-hyun was worried about that and debated whether he should tell them the broadcast was fake. Just then, Kim Yong-chan made eye contact with him.

‘Even in an emergency, Do-hyun looks incredibly calm.’

And it wasn’t just Kim Yong-chan. Gu Mina, Park Ye-sol, and Jung Min-woo all noticed it too.

‘Not just calm…’
‘Is he thinking about what to do for us?’
‘Hyung…’

Because Do-hyun looked composed yet deep in thought, they misunderstood.

It was a misunderstanding, but given everything he had shown them so far, they couldn’t see it any other way.

Although their fear had grown, their determination had not been shaken.

“Honestly, I’m scared… but if we’re going to be Hunters, this is something we’ll face eventually, right?”
“Yeah. Let’s do it.”
“What’s the worst that could happen? We die?”

As everyone steeled themselves, Do-hyun scratched his head.

With the mood like this, maybe there was no need to tell them.

He didn’t want to dampen their courage. No normal person wants to stop someone who’s trying their hardest. Do-hyun was no different.

The only regret was that, unlike them, he couldn’t grow in this maze.

‘I want to raise my stats too.’

Then suddenly, an idea struck him.

He recalled the stats he had gained earlier by analyzing his teammates’ growth.

Which meant—

‘If I push them hard, I grow too, right?’

What a brilliant strategy!

Praising himself inwardly, Do-hyun smiled slightly and spoke.

“Alright, here’s what we’ll do. I’ll take the lead again and we’ll get out of this maze as fast as possible.”

“…If you do that, hyung…” Jung Min-woo started to say.

But Kim Yong-chan grabbed his shoulder and stopped him.

“Do-hyun’s already made up his mind. He wants to get us out as quickly as possible.”

“Oh! That’s what you meant!”
“Wow, as expected of you, oppa.”
“We’ll follow you!”

As they all spoke with renewed determination, Do-hyun wondered how it had turned out like this.

No, he just wanted to grow his own stats by making them grow.

Since he was acting out of selfish motives, he felt slightly awkward—but from their perspective, this was a crisis. Dramatic lines were understandable.

That, and it was too embarrassing to correct them.

Anyway, having declared he would take full control, Do-hyun drew his sword and prepared to run.

Team 1 readied themselves as well.

“Let’s go.”

Pabababat!

The moment Do-hyun stepped forward, the others hurried after him.

He ran so fast it reminded them of the morning’s running drill.

“Th-that’s too fast!”
“D-Do-hyun hyung?!”

Ignoring them, Do-hyun increased his speed.

He kicked off the ground much harder than before.

Bang!

A sound like a gunshot echoed as he shot forward at nearly twice his previous speed. Mana faintly gathered around his dagger.

Like an acrobat, he flipped while landing, glaring at the ground and activating his skills all at once.

Dagger Mastery.
Sword King’s Instinct.
And—

[Successfully 『Analyzed』 the trap.]

Seeing the trap’s weakness clearly revealed through 『Analyze』, he drove his dagger into the exact weak point.

Clang!

His mana and skills were still weak—he couldn’t slice the floor like tofu—but by precisely striking the joint of the trap, he neutralized it.

Click.

As the trap deactivated with a near-artistic movement, his teammates arrived just in time to marvel—

—but Do-hyun had already kicked off the wall and sprinted down the branching path.

“…?”
“Huff—huff—wait for us!”
“T-together!”
“Let’s go!”

Like a train that doesn’t stop just because a dog barks, Do-hyun never waited.

They rushed after him, and in the meantime he leapt onto another wall trap, stabbed his dagger in, and disabled it.

Still midair, he kicked off again—this time adding another skill he hadn’t used before.

Analyze.
Dagger Mastery.
Sword King’s Instinct.
And finally—Ambush.

With even greater speed, he shot off the wall toward four goblins waiting at the alley’s end.

His blade shimmered with mana, leaving a blue afterimage in the air.

The streak shot straight like an arrow and reached the lead goblin’s neck.

And—

Slash!

The blue flash severed its neck instantly. The dagger curved gracefully in a perfect arc—

—and blood erupted from every goblin’s throat.

Fwoosh—!

In an instant, the alley was painted with goblin blood.

But Do-hyun was already gone.

After stepping back briefly to avoid the spray, he moved forward again—then noticed his teammates weren’t catching up.

He turned and said,

“Aren’t you coming?”

Startled out of their awe, they scrambled to excuse themselves.

“You’re too fast.”
“It’s hard to keep up…”

Gu Mina and Park Ye-sol blurted out.

Do-hyun tilted his head.

“Huh? I wasn’t even using half my speed. You should be able to keep up with this, right?”

“……”

No one could reply.

Compared to the speed he’d shown during combat, this really was barely half.

They couldn’t ask him to slow down more.

But unaware of their inner turmoil, Do-hyun added something even more painful:

“Alright, I’ll slow down a bit more. Follow me.”

And he ran again.

It was slightly slower—but still fast.

As they ran behind him, something dawned on them.

‘This…’
‘This morning…’
‘Didn’t we…’
‘Run like this too?’

It felt less like combat and more like stamina training.

Their endurance and agility definitely seemed to be increasing.

But no one dared object to Do-hyun.

Especially since they could feel themselves getting faster and stronger.

Watching this, Do-hyun smiled happily and muttered inwardly:

[You have defeated four 『Goblins』.]
[You gained 40P.]
[You gained 40AP.]
[Successfully 『Analyzed』 another’s stat growth.]
[Permanently +1 Strength, +1 Agility, +1 Stamina.]

‘This is sweet.’

Who said you can’t grow in this maze?

He was growing just fine.

Forgetting his earlier worries, Team 1 sped through the maze.

* * *

Meanwhile, as Do-hyun tore through the maze, the trio of guides watched in awe.

They didn’t miss a single judgment, movement, or combat decision.

“Wow. Now I see why Ji-hoon sunbae mentioned him.”
“He didn’t praise him. He just said to watch.”
“Oh, Yujin, that is praise. Learn some context.”
“Anyway, this Lee Do-hyun kid is no joke.”
“Yeah. He could probably handle the edge of an F-rank zone already.”
“He hasn’t even had formal training yet. Isn’t he just a monster?”

They couldn’t help but admire him.

He led his team with strategy at first. After the emergency broadcast, he took full initiative—disabling traps and cutting down goblins while practically sprinting through the maze.

“I don’t think Hana was this good on her first day…”
“…She struggled on day one. Apparently she flew around starting day two.”
“His ceiling feels limitless.”

They had expected talent, especially since Hwang Hana and Choi Pil had spoken highly of him and Kang Ji-hoon had told them to watch closely.

But he exceeded expectations.

And—

“Doesn’t it seem like he realized we were lying?”
“Yeah. He wasn’t tense at all.”
“He even looked like he was debating whether to tell his team.”

Even through a monitor, their experience let them read that much.

They muttered among themselves:

“We need to bring him into our guild.”
“With Hwang Hana as chief instructor? That’ll be tough.”
“Taebaek Guild will definitely step in too. Even if they claim fairness, this is someone you recruit no matter what.”

They had to recruit Do-hyun.

Yes, he was only F-rank now—but this was his first day of training. Without formal education, he was already showing power at the edge of F-rank, maybe even E-rank.

If you didn’t try to recruit that, you were blind.

Still, with Hwang Hana involved, they decided not to rush.

Then they looked at the monitor showing Team 2.

“…That team’s doomed.”
“Same one-man show, but the atmosphere is totally different.”
“I remember Team 2 had good vibes earlier.”
“Park Dong-wook’s the problem.”
“One loach muddies the water.”
“But Ji Yu-chan is incredible too.”

At Yoon Sang-woo’s words, the others nodded.

Like Do-hyun, Ji Yu-chan had learned to coat his blade with mana.

It was weaker—but he could still decapitate goblins cleanly.

His speed and movement lagged behind, but still—

“What is this, a field of geniuses? Two rookies better than Hana?”
“This makes no sense.”
“Huh? That bastard Park Dong-wook—?!”

They groaned.

What they had feared had happened.

“Ha?!”
“Damn it. That team’s finished. Should I go?”
“No, I’ll go.”

Jung Yujin volunteered. They were about to send her—

When Shin Ji-yeon tilted her head.

“Huh? Lee Do-hyun’s moving.”

Everyone looked back at Team 1’s monitor.

Do-hyun had already exited the maze with his team.

While the others lay on the ground panting, he kept moving.

“Huh? Where’s he going?”
“Wait—check his direction.”
“No way. He’s really going?”
“Why is he heading to Team 2?”
“…Good question.”

No one had an answer.

And the three instructors could only stare at the monitor, as if hypnotized.

They had no idea what Do-hyun intended to do.